there are two kinds of people
June 22, 2006
Sisyphus: My dear Seneca, I hear that you have said that all of humanity can be divided into two camps. Please explain.
Seneca: Yes, I used to say that there are just two kinds of people, but after giving it some thought I've realized that they're basically the same. The first type of person is fickle, bored, and constantly changing his mind. He longs for change, then misses whatever he's just left behind. He tosses and turns like an insomniac, hoping that if he squirms around long enough he can eventually fall asleep. He changes everything about his life until eventually he decides to stick to one thing.
Sisyphus: And what brings about this decision? Wisdom?
Seneca: (Laughs) Not at all! He's eventually worn down by old age, and too tired to change anymore.
Sisyphus: I hope that the second type of person is happier that that wretch!
Seneca: I'm afraid not. The other half of the human race suffers not from fickleness but from inertia. This sort of person is too sluggish to live as he would like, so he just keeps everything the way it already is.
Sisyphus: Both sound pathological. What causes us to be like this?
Seneca: Strangely, these two disorders both have the same cause - dissatisfaction with oneself. One sort of person hates his life, so he constantly tries to change it. The other has such low self-esteem that he doesn't even attempt changing anything.
Sisyphus: And which is better? Which path in life should we choose?
Seneca: It doesn't matter. Both are just marking time until they eventually die. It's just two faces of the same coin.
Sisphus: (sighs) I think I'll get back to my boulder. As long as I'm struggling, I don't have to worry about these sorts of problems.
January 6, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Ive just found your page, and am quite impressed. of course, it reeks of philosophy majorism, but i hope i am mistaken, or that you are one of the few of THEM that manage to make something useful of it. That may or may not be a joke. Either way, these dialogues are great. i would have to point out that Sisyphus doesnt have to worry about it, in spite of the fact, because his boulder is our lives, and he, living it, just doesnt yet see that it is so; basked in absurdity and wrapped in futility.
if it matters, im the first kind.
but, of course, i know it doesnt.